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Fedora Release Events Planning

Fedora Release Parties

Hosting release parties near the time of a Fedora release is a great way to help spread Fedora in your local area and provide an opportunity for Fedora users in your area to come together as a community. Release parties can be casual events with a few people meeting in a coffee shop to larger scale events with numerous people in attendance with planned activities and speakers from the Fedora community.

Even if you have never organized a Fedora event a release party is a great way to get started. We will provide the basics of what you need to know to host a release party on this page - and if you have questions or need assistance with organizing a release party do not hesitate to contact a member of FAmSCo or a fellow Fedora Ambassador for help.

When do I hold a Release Party?

The Fedora release date can slip and be delayed on occasion. Because locations for the party need to be secured ahead of time, it can be wise to schedule the party sometime within the first two weeks of the initial release date. If you are hosting a smaller event you might be able to host a release party closer to the announced launch date. If you are having a larger event or need to reserve the location, you might want to hold your release party a week and half or two after the anticipated release date.

Where do I hold a Release Party?

There are several places one can host a release party. Generally you will want a place that provides a meeting location for free. Another factor will be the number of attendees you expect to attend the release party. Having freely available Internet access can be quite useful, for obtaining updates, troubleshooting information and anything else you might need access to during the party. Having power for people to plug their laptops into can also prove useful.

Any of the following types of locations can be good places to host a Release Party:

Community Room at a Public Library

Community Room at your Apartment Complex

A Coffee Shop (some of which have community rooms and free wireless access)

A restaurant or pub (calling ahead for reservations might be necessary)

An available room at a local University or College

What do I do at a Release Party?

There are many things you can do at a Release Party. Some of the ideas listed below will work better with larger or smaller parties, but you should be able to find something to fit the type of party you have in mind. Have an interesting idea that isn't listed here? Add it!

Talks/Presentations. Typical talks at release parties are the ones that introduce new features in the new release of Fedora. If you're not sure what are the most interesting and important features of the new release you can check release notes for the last release of Fedora in [Fedora Documentation]. You can also prepare talks on what Fedora is about, how the Fedora community works, how to get involved and contribute to Fedora Project.

Question and Answer session. Host a session where people can come and ask questions about Fedora. This can be a great way to help answer people's questions and learn what common questions are in the community. Preparation for this type of event would include being familiar with the new features of the new release and able to direct people to appropriate places on the web within the Fedora support community for questions you do not have the answers to.

Install Fest. Have people bring their laptops or even desktops and help get as many instances of Fedora installed that you can. Make sure you have plenty of install media. You can direct people to fedoraproject.org for source RPMS, but make sure to have the means to create source media or bring some source DVDs with your for people making direct requests for source media. Internet access can be handy for this to help facilitate any troubleshooting research you might need to do.

Live USB Creation Station. Have a machine with you that you can create Liv USB images for people on the USB keys they provide. This can be a great way to send someone home with a Live Fedora image they can work with if they are hesitant to commit to an actual Fedora install.

Break-Fix Challenge. Want to host an event for the more technically inclined or keep them entertained while you help Fedora novices? Have a machine or virtual machine that you have broken in some way. Now see who can fix it the fastest.

Fedora Theme Contest. Have people bring in their own machines and have a contest to see who has the most unique or best looking theme.

Quiz. A knowledge quiz contest for attendees is always fun and it's a great way to give away promotional materials that are in limited numbers. You can use [SelfTest] which is an offline web app written in Python which you can fill with questions about Fedora and let attendees answer them.

Resources

Did you create a cool flyer for your Release Party? Share it with us! Add a link below to any announcement flyers or other materials you create for your Release Party.